Eugene:
1. Oregon (Pac-12)
16. North Carolina A&T (MEAC)
8. Kentucky
9. West Virginia
Spokane:
5. Syracuse
12. Bucknell (Patriot)
4. Gonzaga (WCC)
13. Stephen F. Austin (Southland)
I remain more bullish on Gonzaga than most others, but the committee says the Bulldogs are a 4 seed, so that’s where they are. For now. Their only two losses are from quad 1, and the one against BYU — still potentially a tournament team — came on the road. Meanwhile they’ve beaten Stanford and Rutgers, two teams that could reasonably host the first weekend. It would have helped if Washington State or UNLV were even a little better this year. Then perhaps those wins would mean more.
Iowa City:
6. Arizona State
11. Tennessee
3. Iowa
14. VCU (Atlantic 10)
Raleigh:
7. Central Michigan
10. DePaul
2. NC State
15. FGCU (ASUN)
You ever spill glitter and notice how impossible it is to clean up? Two months later you’re still finding traces of it on your floor. It doesn’t matter what you do. That’s Tennessee this year, somehow clinging to life in the NCAA Tournament picture. It’s not a great resume by any stretch, but the SEC provides the Vols with enough opportunities to pick up good wins. If they don’t at least split with Auburn and Missouri this week, however, they may finally be on the outside looking in.